


Camp X

by Freckles_From_Brooklyn



Category: X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, Gen, No romance just camp stuff, Tw for descriptions of dislocated joints, tw for mentions of blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:40:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 6,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28050288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Freckles_From_Brooklyn/pseuds/Freckles_From_Brooklyn
Summary: Thalia Sava and Mace Wilder have built a camp for mutants, associated with Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Shenanigans ensue.Huge thank you to my friend Mace (@wetlandwanderer on Tumblr) for all of his help in writing this story! The camp was initially his idea, which is why the character of Mace Wilder, the camp director, is heavily based on him, but we collaborated to expand upon it. He also beta read this and answered all of my questions about the intricacies of the X-Men universe. I couldn't have written this without him.





	1. First Day

Mace Wilder, director of Camp X, stood on the porch of the camp office, looking out on what he’d created. It had taken many years to realize his dream of creating a camp for mutants, and now, hopefully, it was going to start paying off. Camp X was massive. It was nestled in a valley in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York, situated around a large lake. The camp contained miles of trails, an activity field, obstacle courses designed for all types of mutant abilities, a boathouse, a ropes course, and a state-of-the-art craft studio.

“Hey,” His assistant director, craft supervisor, and LARP master, Thalia Sava, said, swooping down to land next to him. Thalia, otherwise known as Seraph, had been born with a mutation that resulted in a pair of jet black angel wings sprouting from her back, with a massive claw on each pollex. Mace’s mutation, on the other hand, had caused him to develop abilities similar to a ribbed newt. He had poison glands and barbs on his ribs, membranes that allowed him to breathe through his skin, and second eyelids so he could see underwater. Throughout his time at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, he’d been known as Hellbender. “You ready to do this?” Thalia asked.

“Yeah, I guess,” Mace replied. 

“Oh relax,” Thalia said. “We’ve been planning this for years! What could possibly—” Mace slapped a webbed hand over her mouth before she could finish.

“Don’t finish that sentence,” he said. 

“For a man of science, you certainly are superstitious,” Thalia said, rolling her eyes as she pried Mace’s hand away from her mouth.

“Ever heard of Murphy’s Law?” Mace countered. 

“That thing that people cite ad nauseam that isn’t actually a scientific principle? I’m familiar,” Thalia replied. “Seriously, Mace, relax. It’ll be fine. Come on, we’d better go. We’re doing welcome pavilions, right?” Mace nodded. 

“Yeah. The Professor’s got a bus full of students coming in from the school, and we’ve also got maybe 20 or so coming in with parents.” 

“Well, let’s go, then,” Thalia said. “We wouldn’t want to keep anyone waiting. It would make a rather bad impression.” Mace ran a hand through his hair. 

“Yeah, I guess it would,” he said. He and Thalia walked down to the welcome pavilions and took a seat. “All the counselors are where they’re supposed to be, right?” Mace asked. 

“Yep,” Thalia replied. “I checked in on them before I met you at the office. Seriously, if you don’t relax I’m gonna knock you out cold and do this by myself.” Mace snorted.

“Like you could knock me out,” he said. 

“I’ll take that bet!” Thalia said. “After camp’s over for the summer, I’ll try to knock you out. If I can’t do it, I’ll give you twenty bucks. If I can, you owe me the same amount after you come to.” 

“Deal,” Mace said, reaching over to shake her hand. A few families trickled in, and Mace and Thalia got them checked in quickly and sent on their way. A large bus pulled up in front of the welcome pavilions, and the doors opened. 

“Hey Mace, hey Thalia,” Scott Summers, also known as Cyclops, called from the driver’s seat. “Need any help?”

“Yeah, can you tell them to make sure they have all of their stuff?” Mace replied. “Then tell them to line up according to their cabin preference once they get off the bus. Boys with me, girls with Thalia.”

“You got it,” Scott replied. “Alright everyone, listen up!” 

The check-in process went as smoothly as it could have gone, and soon, everyone was being led to their cabins by some counselors who had come down to help out.

“They’re all staying all summer, right?” Mace asked. 

“Yes, I think so,” Scott replied. “The Professor didn’t tell me that any of them weren’t, at least. We’ll let you know beforehand if we need to come pick any of them up.”

“Much appreciated,” Mace said. 

“Well, I’d best be off,” Scott said. “If you need anything, you know how to reach us.”

“Thanks, Scott,” Mace said. 

“No problem,” Scott replied. “Good luck, you two.”


	2. Classes

“Alright, listen up!” Thalia called. She stood on a table under the Andromeda pavilion near the activities field so she could be seen and heard clearly by the group of campers gathered around her. This was the first course she was teaching all summer. “Welcome to the LARP course!” Thalia continued. “My name is Thalia, but you can also call me Seraph if you’d like. This course is designed to not only teach you leadership, communication, problem-solving, teamwork, and storytelling, it’s also meant to teach you how to improvise, think on your feet, and fight in new and challenging environments. There will be a self-defense aspect to this course, and I expect you to take that aspect extremely seriously so that you don’t seriously hurt yourself or anyone else. Do I make myself clear?” a chorus of yesses came from the assembled campers. “Excellent,” Thalia said. “Today you will make your characters. For the rest of the week, I will be teaching you a variety of fighting styles, both long-range and short-range. On Friday, you will all work together to defeat the training holograms on the LARP course and complete a quest. Everyone got that?” there was another chorus of yesses from the campers. “Good,” Thalia said. “Then let’s begin.”

Across camp, in the Lyra pavilion, Mace was also teaching his first course of the summer.

“Welcome to survival skills!” he announced. “My name is Mace, and I’ll be one of your instructors for this course. As mutants, it is not unlikely that you will find yourself on the run at some point in your life. I’m here to ensure that you know how to stay alive in that situation. I will teach you about wild edibles, how to start a fire both with matches and without, how to build shelters, how to set traps, and how to camouflage and conceal both yourself and your shelter. On Thursday night, you’ll test your skills in a survival campout. We will provide food, but you’ll need to make your own shelters and fires. Everyone got that?” The campers all nodded. “Right,” Mace said. “Let’s start with the rule of 3s.”


	3. Weird Situation

Thalia glanced at her phone as it buzzed on the table next to her. The first week of camp had gone unbelievably smoothly. It was Saturday now, and Thalia knew she should have been relaxing, but there was too much to do. She needed to clean the slip sink, pour molds, make more dye for tie-dye, cut string for friendship bracelets, as well as about a million other tasks. She grabbed her phone and looked at it. A text from Mace scrawled across the screen.

_ Hey, could you come up to the office for a moment? I need your help with something.  _

_ Yeah, sure,  _ Thalia replied.  _ Everything ok? _

_ Everything’s fine, _ Mace said.  _ It’s not an emergency, it’s just kind of a weird situation and I’m not entirely sure how to handle it, that’s all. _

_ On my way, _ Thalia said. She paused her music and tucked her phone in her pocket, heading up to the lodge. The first thing she noticed as she approached was Scott’s motorcycle parked outside the office. As she walked into the office, however, it wasn’t Scott who she saw sitting on one of the couches. It was Logan Howlett— Wolverine himself— glowering like a sullen third grader. There was a somewhat crumpled note pinned to his jacket, giving him the faint impression of a World War II-era British child being sent to the countryside to avoid the air-raids. 

“Seraph,” he said, nodding at Thalia as she came in.

“Logan,” Thalia replied. “What are you doing here?”

“Chuck said I had to,” Logan growled. “Something about needing to learn to control my temper, which we all know is just his way of saying you’re being a jackass and I don’t wanna deal with you. New program he’s trying out.” he chuckled a little. “Just you wait. It’s only a matter of time before he drags Wade’s ass here, and then you’ll all be fucked.” he looked at Mace. “Look, can you take this damn note off of me?” he demanded. “I dunno what the hell’s going on with it but apparently you’re the only goddamn person who can take it off!”

“Yeah, sure,” Mace said, trying hard to stifle his laughter and mostly succeeding as he reached forward to unpin the note. “You wait here, we’ll deliberate and tell you what you’ll be doing.” Logan nodded, putting his feet up on the coffee table and grabbing a magazine. Mace tugged Thalia into his office and shut the door quickly. “This is the funniest fucking thing that’s ever happened to me,” He said. 

“I know,” Thalia said. “This is fucking hilarious. What’s the note say?” Mace skimmed the piece of paper in his hands. 

“Mostly what Logan already told us,” he said. “That and he’ll be staying for a week, and he’s not allowed to have any alcohol in that time, not even on his days off.”

“Oh, this will be fun,” Thalia said. 

“Oh definitely,” Mace replied. “I actually could use his help in teaching survival skills. He’s the best tracker I’ve ever met.”

“You know what we have to do if we want him to learn to control his temper though, right?” Thalia asked. 

“No, what?” Mace asked, shuffling around on his desk for the schedule before stopping dead as he realized what Thalia meant. “You’re joking,” he said. “We can’t put him with Jersey Devil.”

“The Professor said he needed to learn to control his temper,” Thalia argued. “There’s no better place to teach that than with the Jersey Devil kids. Besides, we’ve got two solid counselors in there that’ll make sure he doesn’t kill any of them.”

“You’re evil,” Mace said. 

“I’m just trying to honor the spirit of the punishment,” Thalia countered. “You know I’m right.”

“I know you’re right, but I don’t have to  _ like _ that you’re right,” Mace replied. 

“So we’re putting him with Jersey Devil?” Thalia asked. Mace sighed. 

“Yeah,” he agreed reluctantly. “C’mon, let’s go tell him.” Thalia grinned as she followed him out. Logan was still sitting on the couch, reading his magazine. 

“You figured out what you’re gonna do with me?” he asked without looking up.

“Yeah,” Mace said. “Have you read the note?”

“Nope,” Logan replied, still reading his magazine.

“Did the professor tell you that you’re not allowed to drink the whole time you’re here?” Mace asked. This got Logan to look up.

“He sure as shit didn’t,” he growled. 

“Well, that’s part of it,” Mace said. “Any time you leave camp, you’ll be supervised by another counselor to make sure you’re not drinking.”

“You gonna try to stop me from smoking too?” Logan asked. Mace glanced at Thalia, who shrugged. 

“You can still smoke, just not around the kids,” Mace said. “Also, we’d appreciate it if you didn’t smoke indoors.”

“Yeah, I won’t do it around the kids,” Logan said. 

“You’ll be helping out in the Jersey Devil cabin,” Mace continued. “They’re the second youngest boys cabin, and they can get a little wild sometimes. You’ll also be helping me teach survival skills.”

“I think I can live with that,” Logan said. 

“Well that’s good, considering you don’t have much of a choice,” Mace said. 

“I can take you to the cabin if you want,” Thalia offered. “I’m headed back in that direction anyway.” 

“Sure, whatever,” Logan said. He stood up and grabbed the backpack that was sitting on the couch next to him, slinging it over his shoulder. 

“You aren’t going back to the craft studio, are you?” Mace asked. 

“Yeah. Why?” Thalia replied. 

“It’s your day off! You shouldn’t be working!” Mace protested. 

“I’ve got shit to do in there!” Thalia said. 

“How about we go see a movie in town tonight,” Mace suggested. “I’ve heard good things about that new  _ Star Wars _ movie.” 

“Sure,” Thalia replied. “That sounds fun. When should I meet you for that?”

“How about 5?” Mace said. 

“Sounds like a plan,” Thalia said. “See you then.”


	4. Raid

About halfway through the summer, Thalia and Mace were sitting in the camp offices getting paperwork done as the campers had their siesta. Thalia looked out the window as she heard the sound of a car driving up the gravel road to the parking lot.

“Hey, were we supposed to have any visitors today?” She asked. 

“No, why?” Mace replied. 

“Someone just drove up, and I don’t think it’s for delivery,” Thalia said. Mace joined her at the window, watching as a sleek black car with heavily tinted windows pulled up in front of the office.

“That looks like a government car,” Mace said. “We’d better go see what they want.”

“Right behind you,” Thalia said. She and Mace walked out of the office, reaching the car just as a man stepped out. Behind Mace, Thalia froze. The man was impeccably groomed, with slicked-back black hair and a sharp black suit with a red tie. He looked incredibly out of place in the dusty camp parking lot.

“Afternoon,” Mace said. “Can I help you?”

“As a matter of fact, you can,” The man said. “I’m General Samuel Gates, I’m with the Department of Homeland Security. May I ask who you are?”

“I’m Mace Wilder,” Mace said. “I’m the director of Camp X. This is my assistant director, Thalia Sava. May I ask why you’re here?”

“I’m here because we’ve received a tip that you may not own this land,” General Gates said. 

“This camp is affiliated with Xavier’s school for gifted youngsters, and this land is owned by Charles Xavier,” Mace said. “We can verify that we have all the necessary documents in order.”

“Ah, but you’re not Charles Xavier,” General Gates said. “I’m afraid we’ll be seizing this camp and its assets.”

“Not without a fight,” Mace said without thinking. General Gates smiled unpleasantly. 

“If it’s a fight you want, it’s a fight you’ll get,” he said. He got back into his car, which drove off down the road. Mace swore. 

“This is bad,” he said. “We’ll have to get all the kids in the bunker. I’ll send the text out now—” he turned around to face Thalia and was shocked at what he saw. His assistant director, his friend— unfazed by most of the crazy situations that arose within the normal course of a camp day— had gone pale, and he could clearly see complete and utter fear and panic in her eyes. “Hey, are you alright?” he asked. 

“I’m fine,” Thalia said, her voice shaking. Mace was not convinced, but he wasn’t going to press her on the matter. 

“You don’t have to fight,” he said.

“No, I—” Thalia took a deep, shuddering breath. “I’m fine. I can do this. I  _ have _ to do this.” she looked at Mace. “How long do you think we have?”

“Probably about an hour,” Mace replied, now texting the counselors’ groupchat with instructions. “I’m telling all of the counselors to meet here in thirty minutes. The CITs and the CIT leaders will take the kids to the bunker.” Thalia nodded. 

“I’ll be there,” she said. She took off, flying towards her apartment. Mace kept a machete on him at all times so he could remove poison ivy and other poisonous plants and clear paths, so he waited at the office, activating his rib barbs so he could coat the machete with the venom from the glands on his abdomen as he did. Slowly but surely, the counselors began to arrive, armed with various ranged and melee weapons. Mace waited until Thalia had returned from her cabin and landed next to him, gripping a hunting bow in a white-knuckled grip, before he started talking.

“Alright, listen up,” he said. “We’ve got a bunch of government lackeys coming in about a half-hour to try to raid the camp. I’m sure you’re all aware that we can’t let them get in. If they find the kids, it’ll be game over. We’re going to hold the line at the camp entrance. I cannot stress this enough,  _ you can’t let them get into the camp. _ Everyone got that?” the counselors all nodded. “Good,” Mace said. “Let’s go. Form a wall across the road.” Everyone started heading towards the front gate of the camp. Mace grabbed Thalia’s arm as she went to follow them. “You don’t have to fight,” he said. 

“Yes, I do,” Thalia replied. She and Mace reached the gate as General Gates pulled up to it, this time in a truck loaded with soldiers. 

“I’ll give you one last chance to surrender, Mister Wilder,” General Gates said, stepping out of the vehicle. “No one needs to get hurt here. It’ll all be over quicker if you give up and go peacefully.”

“Thanks for the offer, but I think I’ll pass,” Mace said. 

“Suit yourself,” General Gates replied, smirking. “Men, attack!” 

“Hold fast!” Mace yelled to his fellow counselors. He didn’t know if that was the right thing to yell in this situation, but hey, it always sounded good in the movies. The situation quickly devolved into chaos. Mace swung wildly with his machete, managing to incapacitate several soldiers. He glanced up just in time to see Thalia get pulled out of the air by her ankle as she sought a better vantage point. She landed hard on her left shoulder with a grunt of pain, but she pushed herself back up and tore into the soldier who’d grabbed her with her wing claws. After she was sure that she had incapacitated that particular soldier, she whirled around, coming face to face with General Gates. 

“Ah, that’s a familiar face,” The General mused with a grin that could only be described as predatory. “Let’s see, I think the last time I saw you, you were laid out on an examination table begging for your life. I look forward to working with you again, X113.” 

“That’s never going to happen,” Thalia hissed. “I’ll never be under your control again, and I won’t let you hurt these kids the way you hurt me!” She lunged forward, knocking the General to the ground, digging her wing claws into his chest. “You are going to leave here immediately,” She growled. “If you ever come back to this camp, so help me god I will ensure that your bloodline ends with you and every remaining second of your miserable, pathetic life is excruciatingly painful. Do I make myself clear?” The General gulped and nodded. Thalia let him up, and he immediately called for his men to retreat. They all piled back into the truck and sped down the country roads at alarming speeds. 


	5. Field Medicine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW for mentions of blood, descriptions of dislocated joints, and descriptions of setting a dislocated bone

Mace spent the rest of the afternoon herding counselors to the health lodge so that they could get their injuries looked at and retrieving the campers and CITs from the bunker under the maintenance shed. Thankfully, no one had gotten seriously injured, but there were enough minor injuries to keep the health lodge busy for the rest of the day. Throughout all this, Thalia was nowhere to be seen.

_ She’s an adult, _ Mace reminded himself.  _ She can take care of herself _ . But he couldn’t help worrying, especially when she didn’t show up for dinner. That evening, as the sun began to set over the mountains, Mace decided to go for a swim. The fight had left a considerable amount of blood and grime on his skin, and he always did enjoy swimming in the lake on a regular basis to keep the mucous membranes that covered his skin replenished. As he got into the water, he noticed a figure sitting on the dock, their feet dangling in the water. Even from a good distance away, he could tell that it was Thalia. He swam closer, making sure he was visible but also keeping his distance in case she lashed out. 

“Hey, you good?” he called. Thalia looked up and saw him. 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she replied. 

“Mind if I sit with you?” Mace asked. 

“Yeah sure, go ahead,” Thalia said. Mace swam up to the dock, pulling himself up onto it.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” He asked. “You seemed really shaken when you saw Gates.”

“Yeah, I’m fine, it’s just—” Thalia sighed in frustration.

“You don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to,” Mace said hurriedly.

“No, it’s okay,” Thalia said. “I need to get this off my chest.” she took a deep breath. “You know that before I came to the school, I was kept at a government lab and experimented on, right?” she said. Mace nodded. “Well, Gates was in charge of that lab,” Thalia continued. “And not only that, he personally oversaw most of the experiments done there. When I was in the most excruciating pain I’ve ever felt, begging for it to be over, begging for the pain to end, I’d see him standing over me, leering at me like I was some prized piece of meat or something.” She shuddered. “When I escaped, it was like this massive weight was lifted off of me. I thought I’d never have to see him again. I was elated. But then he showed up here, and that weight came crashing back down onto me. It was like I was back in the lab. All of the fear and the panic and the pain just hit me like a ton of bricks.”

“You didn’t have to fight,” Mace said gently. “You probably shouldn’t have fought.”

“You’re right,” Thalia said. “But I couldn’t— I couldn’t let him experiment on the campers like he experimented on me. I had to make sure that he couldn’t get in.”

“That’s fair,” Mace said. “Hey, how’s your shoulder? You landed on it pretty hard.”

“It’s fine,” Thalia said. Even in the rapidly dying light, Mace could clearly see that her shoulder was not fine. Its normally rounded shape had flattened considerably, and it had already started to swell. 

“It’s dislocated,” he said. 

“No it’s not. I’m fine,” Thalia argued. 

“Yes it is. Look at it! It’s very clearly dislocated!” Mace said. Thalia glanced at her shoulder. 

“Okay, maybe it is dislocated. So what?” she said. 

“So we need to set it or else you’ll lose mobility and damage the blood vessels and ligaments,” Mace said. Thalia rolled her eyes.

“You’re overreacting,” she said. “I’ll be fine. It’s just a flesh wound.”

“I’m not overreacting, I’m just stating the truth,” Mace argued. “Look, I’ll give you four options. One, you set it yourself. Two, you let me set it. Three, you go to the health lodge and have them set it for you. Four, you do nothing and live the rest of your life with restricted mobility and permanent nerve damage. It’s up to you.”

“Fine,” Thalia grumbled. 

“Fine what?” Mace asked, slightly perplexed. “Fine doesn’t constitute a decision?”

“Fine, I’ll let you set it,” Thalia said. 

“Alright,” Mace said. “I need you to lay down on the dock with your left arm hanging over the edge and relax. This won’t work if you’re tense.” Thalia nodded and did as she was told while Mace gathered a few good-sized rocks. “Right, now we just need something to use as a brace,” he said. “Some fabric or something.” Thalia sat up and, with some difficulty, pulled her shirt off. 

“Will this work?” she asked, holding it out. 

“Yeah, that’ll work,” Mace said, taking it. He slid into the water as Thalia lay back down on the dock. Once she was back in position, he wrapped the shirt securely around her wrist before putting the rocks he’d gathered into the pocket formed by the shirt. He gently let the weight go and climbed back out of the water, kneeling by Thalia’s head. “Ready?” he asked. 

“Yeah,” Thalia said. 

“This isn’t gonna feel great,” Mace warned. 

“I can handle it,” Thalia said. “I’m not fragile. Just do it already.” Mace nodded. He started rotating her shoulder upwards, making sure to be as gentle as possible. 

“Ow! Son of a bitch motherfucker!” Thalia yelled as the bone popped back into its socket after a few rotations. Mace inspected her shoulder, prodding it a little as he made sure it was back in place. “If you keep touching it, I’m going to rip your spleen out,” Thalia threatened. 

“Good luck with that,” Mace said, but he stopped prodding it. “It looks good,” he said, sliding back in the water to unwrap Thalia’s wrist. “We’ll want to go up to the health lodge and get a sling for it, though. I’d say keep it in a sling for about two weeks, and you shouldn’t be doing any heavy lifting during that time.” he handed Thalia her shirt before getting out of the water again and helping her up. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s get you that sling and then maybe we can head to the dining hall to get cereal. You missed dinner.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Thalia replied, pulling her shirt on. The pair walked up to the health lodge together and waited in the front while the nurse went and got a sling. Mace helped Thalia get the sling situated around her wings. 

“Hey, Mace?” Thalia said as they walked to the dining hall. 

“Yeah?” Mace replied. 

“Thanks,” Thalia said. 

“For what?” Mace asked. 

“For everything,” Thalia replied. “For checking in on me. For listening to me. For forcing me to stop being a stubborn idiot. For setting my shoulder. Also, I’m sorry for cursing you out and threatening to rip your spleen out.” Mace laughed. 

“Nah, you’re good,” he said. “Cursing is a natural reaction to getting a dislocated bone set, and most people threaten me when I poke at the area I just set. It’s nothing I haven’t seen before, don’t worry.” 

“Glad you’re not offended,” Thalia said, smiling.

“It’d take more than a few swear words and threats to offend me,” Mace assured her. 


	6. When You Look Out From Your Front Porch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The chapter title comes from a musical called The Spitfire Grill, from the song Colors of Paradise

Mace and Thalia reached the dining hall and walked inside. Jesse, a counselor for the Skunk Ape cabin, stood in the center of the dining hall looking very awkward. “Hey, Jesse,” Mace said. “What are you doing here?”

“Just enjoying my day off,” Jesse said unconvincingly. Mace raised an eyebrow.

“Your day off?” he repeated. “As the person who makes your schedule, I could’ve sworn your day off was Thursday. It’s only Wednesday.”

“Erm, no, it’s Wednesday,” Jesse said hurriedly. 

“Well, it’s a good thing you’re on your day off because the only other reason for you to be in here this late is if you were on a sneakout,” Thalia said, raising her voice theatrically. “And we  _ can’t _ have kids out of bed this late.”

“That’s right,” Mace said in the same tone of voice. “If we have kids out of bed past lights out, what’s next? Total anarchy?” a chorus of giggles came from under a table. “What was that?” Mace asked. 

“Nothing!” Jesse said hurriedly. “Probably just the wind!”

“Huh, weird,” Mace said. “Never heard the wind sound like that. Well, enjoy the rest of your day off.” he and Thalia walked over to the large cereal dispensers and each got a bowl of cereal before leaving the dining hall to eat it on the office porch. It was a lovely evening. The heat of the day had subsided, and the air felt cool and refreshing. Fireflies blinked lazily in the woods, and frogs and crickets chirped. Mace sighed contentedly. 

“I wish it could be like this all the time,” he said. 

“I dunno,” Thalia replied. “I think I’d miss fall and winter.”

“Winter sucks,” Mace said. 

“Yeah, well not all of us are newt-men,” Thalia teased. “Some of us have taste and actually like winter. But yeah, it is a beautiful night.” 


	7. Nightmare

Thalia opened her eyes. She was sitting in the backseat of a car driving through a forest. Her wings were squashed uncomfortably against the upholstery behind her. Riding in a car was never an enjoyable experience for Thalia, but she had at least learned how to situate her wings so it was bearable, and this was not one of those bearable positions. She looked down at herself. Everything about her was smaller.

“Where are mom and dad?” Thalia could hear the question being asked in her voice, feel her mouth moving, but she knew that she had not voluntarily said anything.

“They were killed in an explosion,” the man driving the car said. Thalia couldn’t see much of him, but she knew that he was well-groomed and wearing sunglasses.

“Where are we going?” she felt herself ask.

“Somewhere safe,” The man said tersely.

“What—”

“Stop asking questions!” The man snapped, and Thalia shrank back in her seat. The car pulled up to a gatehouse in front of a large building made out of dark stone, which was surrounded by a barbed wire-topped chain link fence. The man driving the car got out to speak to the man in the gatehouse, pointing to Thalia. The gatehouse man nodded, and the man driving the car got back in and drove through the tall gates, which swung open to allow them to pass, slamming shut behind them. The man drove into a parking garage, pulling smoothly into a parking space. A second man walked up to the car holding something that Thalia recognized as a dampening collar, which he quickly clamped around her neck. Thalia immediately felt weaker, and she was in no position to resist as each man grabbed one of her shoulders and guided her into an elevator. The elevator moved smoothly upward, stopping after a minute or two and opening into a massive atrium. The men marched Thalia out into this atrium, where a third man was waiting. The men on either side of Thalia saluted.

“General Gates,” the man who’d driven the car said. “I’ve collected the package, sir.”

“Excellent,” General Gates replied, smiling at Thalia. Thalia shifted her weight nervously. General gates reached out and traced the curve of Thalia’s wing with his finger. “Exquisite,” He murmured. Thalia jerked her wing back. She hated it when people touched her wings. General Gates chuckled. “Feisty, aren’t we?” he said. “No matter, we can work with that. Welcome to the Center for Mutant Research. You will help us learn new things about mutants each and every day. Doesn’t that sound fun?” he grinned. “We’re happy to have you here, X113.”

“That’s not my name!” Thalia protested, her words sluggish and a little bit slurred. “I don’t like it here! I want to go home!” General Gates’s grin got bigger and bigger, wider and wider, unsettlingly, unnaturally wide. His head tilted to the side, his eye sockets emptying, becoming horrible pitch-black voids. 

“I’m afraid you won’t be going home anytime soon, X113,” he said, his voice sounding like multiple people speaking at the same time. “You’ll be staying here forever.”

Thalia jerked awake, sweaty and shivering. She looked around. The lab had disappeared. She was in her apartment above the craft studio. Almost unconsciously, she reached up and rubbed her left shoulder. Her dislocated shoulder had healed about a week ago, but Thalia had developed a habit of rubbing it whenever she felt scared or nervous. She took a few deep breaths.

“It’s not real,” she told herself. “It was just a dream. You’re safe.” try as she might, however, she couldn’t shake her feeling of unease. She sighed, grabbing her sweatshirt and pulling it on before lacing up her combat boots. Flying often helped calm her down after a nightmare. She walked down the stairs behind the staff lounge, heading for the activities field. 

Mace woke up abruptly at three o’clock am. This was a relatively common occurrence, bred from anxiety about sleeping through his alarm. As he rolled over to go back to sleep, he heard a branch snap outside his tent. Panic seized Mace. He froze, not moving a muscle. A moment later, he heard the sound of someone stumbling.

“Fuck!” a familiar voice said. 

“Thalia?” Mace hissed. 

“Yeah?” Thalia replied. Mace took a moment to shake off his panic before crawling out of the tent. 

“What are you doing out here?” he demanded. “You nearly gave me a heart attack! I thought someone was attacking!”

“Sorry,” Thalia said sheepishly. “I had a nightmare, and I came out here to fly. That usually calms me down. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“It’s okay,” Mace said. “Sorry about the nightmare.

“It’s fine,” Thalia said. “I can usually shake them off pretty quickly.”

“Well, have fun,” Mace said. 

“I will,” Thalia replied. “I’ll try not to give you a heart attack on the way back in.”

“Much appreciated,” Mace replied. He watched as Thalia walked onto the activities field, getting a running start before soaring into the air. Once she was just a dark speck among the stars, he headed back to his tent.


	8. Welcome to the Team

It seemed like only yesterday that Thalia and Mace were welcoming campers for the first time, yet here they sat under the welcome pavilion, surrounded by kids and luggage, waiting for the bus to come from the school. All around them, kids talked and laughed, playing tag or catch or a myriad of other games. The summer was over, even though it seemed like it had just started. Finally, the bus pulled into the parking lot. The door opened, and Scott stepped out. 

“Alright, everyone grab your stuff and get on!” he called. While all of the kids scrambled to get their luggage, jostling for positions to get the best seats on the bus, Scott walked up to Mace and Thalia. “Hope they weren’t too much trouble,” he said. 

“No, they were fine,” Mace assured him. “We’re happy to have them here anytime.” 

“Glad to hear it,” Scott said. “We heard about how you handled that government raid, by the way. Nicely done.”

“Thanks,” Mace said. 

“No problem,” Scott replied. “I also heard that Logan had to come by and work here for a week. How’d that go?” Mace shrugged. 

“Pretty well, actually,” he said. “Much better than I expected.”

“Huh,” Scott said. “Wouldn’t have thought that he’d be any good at this camp thing, given his temper. Oh, by the way, Thalia, the Professor wanted me to give you this.” he handed her a package wrapped in brown paper that had been tucked under his arm. “He kept forgetting to give it to you, and he said it was about time you finally had it.”

“Thanks,” Thalia said. Scott looked over at the bus. The kids had all finished getting on by now. 

“Well, I’d better get going,” Scott said. “I’ll see you two later.” 

“See ya,” Mace and Thalia replied. They retreated to the office porch and watched as the bus pulled out of the parking lot. 

“What’s in the package?” Mace asked. Thalia pulled the brown paper away, revealing a dark brown leather jacket with the X-men symbol tooled into each shoulder and large slits in the back to accommodate her wings. She stared at the jacket, looking as if she might cry. 

“Hey, that’s awesome!” Mace said, grinning. The jackets were given to mutants when they officially became a part of the X-men, and he had received his own jacket a few years earlier. “Congratulations!” 

“Thanks,” Thalia said, still looking as if she didn’t quite believe this was happening.

“Try it on,” Mace suggested. Thalia pulled on the jacket, guiding her wings through the slits. It fit perfectly. “I like it,” Mace said. “It suits you.” Thalia smiled. She leaned on the railing, watching as the sun began to set. 

“So,” she said. 

“So,” Mace replied. 

“We built a camp,” Thalia said. “We’ve dealt with difficult kids, fights involving mutations, cranky parents, a CIT plague, Logan as a counselor, and an attempted government raid.”

“We have,” Mace agreed. 

“Was it worth it?” Thalia asked. 

“Absolutely,” Mace replied. 


End file.
